The Best Of You
by charrrr
Summary: Ireland Hawk: cruel, heartless, complicated, a murderer. And Xavier Benedict's soulfinder. Their story isn't a traditional happily ever after love story. It's a story of betrayal, anger, horror and suspense. Neither knows for certain how their story will end but they do know one thing: their lives will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hello! So, here's the first chapter of my new story.

If you haven't already, I suggest that you read the first stories in my series: Safe & Sound, Love & War, A Pocket Full Of Soul. You could probably understand this without reading the others first, but you might not.

I hope you like it. Please don't forget to favourite/follow/review so I know people like the start and are interested! :) It continues straight from the last chapter of APFOS.

* * *

**10th October 2013**

Another hit, this time in the stomach. Laughter around him. A punch in the face that knocked his head back against the cold and damp brick wall behind him. He slumped back to the ground, his arms held above him by the chains around his wrists. He coughed out the mouthful of blood that was the result of the punch. After three days of this, he was used to it. His body was bruised and bloody, his clothes clinging to his skin with sweat, and he had only been given one glass of water and a slice of bread each day, but he refused to break. Whatever they wanted from him, they weren't going to get it.

The two men laughed again and Xavier closed his eyes, bracing himself for the next hit and not letting himself try and think about where it would be next.

But the punch never came. After a moment of tense silence, during which Xav's heart started pounding faster and harder, he slowly opened his eyes and hoped that this wasn't some sort of trick. It hurt to open them; not only was his face covered in blood, fresh and dried, but it was swollen and he just knew without looking in a mirror that he was barely recognizable right now.

When his vision focused, he found himself staring into the mostly otherwise empty small room he had been locked up in for three days, seeing his two abusers leaving the room as another man stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Xav recognized him immediately as the dark-haired man from the church, the leader of the group. He'd ordered his men to kidnap Xav and Uriel, in a church at the funeral of their brother's soulfinder's mother of all places, and was the only man then and in the past few days that wasn't hiding his face underneath a balaclava. He was dressed all in black again and had a cruel, cold look in his eyes. Xav prayed for mercy to a God he didn't even believe in. This man was even more terrifying than the men who had been beating him up.

The man grabbed a wooden chair that was leaning against the wall near the door and dragged it across the room behind him as he slowly made his way towards Xav. He stopped a feet few away and sat down on the chair, crossing his arms across his chest and crossing his ankles. _Getting comfortable_, Xav thought to himself. _He's not uneasy about being here at all._

"Hello, Xavier." His accent was clearly British. "I would apologize for the way my people have been treating you, but I am afraid I had to order them to do that. You see, this matter is very simple and all I want is a kind of payment for what your family did to my family. And I think achieving that would be much easier if you're weaker and want the beatings to stop." He said it all very matter-of-factly and it came to Xav that the man must do this sort of stuff regularly to get what he wanted. Those kind of men disgusted him and that thought made him less scared of the man and a little more like his usual confident self.

He chuckled, his voice croaky from thirst. "So what do you want from me? Are you going to kill me? Because if you are, I'd prefer you to just get it over with. Surely having me beaten up is a little time consuming for you?"

"Oh it certainly is," the man laughed. "But killing you isn't going to get me anywhere. At least not yet. This could all end very quickly for you and you can go home if you wish to. All I want is some simple information from you."

"Well I guess you'll just have to get your men to beat me to death because I'm not telling you anything," he spat angrily. He was furious and knew that his words were all that he had left now because he had no chance at fighting his way out of here. "I don't care what you want. You can go fuck yourself."

The man's facial expression didn't change, almost as if he had expected this from Xav. "It's very unfortunate for you that you won't co-operate. My men will just get rougher with you the longer you take to come around. I know for a fact that my daughter is just dying to get her hands on you and she can be pretty ruthless. She's even worse than I am, if you can believe that!" A smile spread across his face like he was proud that his daughter was evil too. "She's already paid your brother a visit, although she went a little soft on him. He was crying and begging to be released and she felt sorry for him. I keep telling her that her heart is going to make trouble for her."

Hearing him mention Uriel made Xav wince. Uriel was strong, but the most sensitive of the brothers. Still, he trusted that Uriel wouldn't tell them anything despite how hurt he was. "So basically you're teaching your daughter not to have any emotions?" He didn't rise to the bait and ask about his brother. He wouldn't give the man the satisfaction of that.

"I guess some people would see it that way," he shrugged. "But I see it as shaping her into the perfect young lady. She'll never get hurt by anybody and she'll never know what betrayal feels like. I'm protecting her."

"Who even are you?" Xav blurted out. "Because your face doesn't look familiar to me at all."

The man's expression went hard and he sounded annoyed when he answered. "Of course you wouldn't remember my face. I bet none of your family do. You destroy the lives of that many people that I'm sure it's hard to keep track, eh? My name is Oliver Hawk, does that ring a bell?"

It did. Xav remembered the Hawk case quite clearly. Oliver Hawk had a wife called Delia and they had three children together: Evander, Ireland and Quinn. Oliver and Delia had set up a business that worked to fund anti-savant groups, whether they were savants against the net or the rarity of humans against the savant race, and help them with all financial matters if it helped take down savants. They were savants themselves which had confused the net: why would they willingly help others try and destroy their own kind? Turned out that it had probably been all down to money. The Hawk couple legally owned a number of businesses and earned a large fortune from them. But they'd got greedy; they wanted more money. Which is how their new business was created.

It had all come to an end for them at the start of 2012. They'd been financially funding a group in Sweden and they'd believed that the group really did have enough power to overthrow the Swedish branch of the savant net and had made the decision to join them. They knew that if the group succeeded, they would become famous and many people would praise them for their work. Their plan wasn't to expose savants, simply destroy those that didn't believe they were better than humans and that were on the side of the net. The couple had even enlisted their children to join the group, having trained them in the ways of their business and taking savants down since each of them was born. Together, the family – even the youngest, Quinn, whom had been just fourteen at the time – followed their orders and killed at least four other families. There were probably more, but evidence had only been found at the residences of those four families.

The authorities had been trying to track the family down for months, without much success. So in June 2012, the Benedict family did what they were famous for and collectively used their powers to figure out the location of the family's hideout. Trace and Victor had even been a part of the group that had travelled to Sweden, to the house the family were hiding in.

Something had gone wrong whilst they were. They'd planned for a simple arrest and hadn't been expecting the family to be able to fight back so well. They'd underestimated them. Delia and Quinn had been shot on sight and died, whilst Oliver and Ireland had managed to escape and hadn't been found since. Evander, the eldest child, was the only one to be arrested and he was still rotting in jail.

Xav remembered the case so well because it had become such a big deal in the savant world from the chaos it caused. He remembered that Trace and Victor had been inconsolable when they'd got home, not because of the two that got away but because of the two that had died. It was believe that one of their bullets had accidentally killed the fourteen year old and they felt terrible about it, even if they weren't getting into trouble over it.

"You want revenge." It was a statement, not a question, because Xav knew that he was right. "Revenge against my family for destroying yours."

"I do," he nodded his head. "I normally frown upon people getting revenge, it just seems a little pathetic. But I now finally know how they feel. I won't sleep properly until I avenge my wife and daughter. But before I get revenge on your family, I need information. Rumour has it that there is a weapon that has the power to destroy the savant net and control the rest of the savants. And apparently your family know what that weapon is. If you or your brother tell me, you can both leave here alive. That's all you have to do."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." It was a lie, of course. The whole family knew the truth and had been told it in the first place by his sister-in-law Georgie's dad Mark. The weapon wasn't a thing; it was a person. Georgie's cousin Persephone apparently had some sort of power capable of being used as a weapon against the net, although they didn't know what that power was. Persephone was an innocent in all of this so Xav wasn't going to willingly send a bunch of people after her, nor did he want to be the reason for somebody so evil having such power at their beck and call. "And if I did, I still wouldn't tell you."

The man let out a loud, over-exaggerated sigh and stood up. "Very well. Be that way. Hopefully I'll have better luck with your brother and if not... I'll just kill you both and kidnap another member of your family to try my luck with them. If I end up having to kill all of you, so be it. At least I'll finally have my revenge."

He started to walk away, which infuriated Xav for some reason he couldn't comprehend. "Hey, Oliver!" He called out, his voice not very loud because he was so dehydrated, but Oliver heard him. He paused and looked over his shoulder at Xav, raising his eyebrow questioningly. "Is your daughter hot?" Xav continued, a cocky grin on his face. He refused to break and show any more weakness in front of this man. "Because if she is, by all means send her in. I could do with a little eye candy to look at, and it'd make be very happy, if you know what I mean. Oh and if she gets a little rough and hurts me a little... Well, I'm always up for a bit of kink. So go on, send her in."

Oliver's expression went stony again and he glared at Xav before storming out of the room. Clearly Oliver didn't like to hear someone talk about his daughter in a degrading way and Xav had hit a nerve. It probably wasn't the best thing to wind up his kidnapper but Xav was still happy with himself. No, he wasn't going to go down easily and without a fight. He'd stay his arrogant, strong self until the very end.

When the door creaked opened a moment later and two men in balaclavas came in again, Xav thought that he must have _really_ pissed Oliver off with his talk about his daughter.

The men approached him and the beatings started again.

* * *

"That was great," Noel said as he collapsed on the bed next to Ireland. "Thanks."

"Yeah. Whatever," Ireland replied, wondering what kind of idiot actually thanked somebody for sex as if she were some sort of prostitute. Which she wasn't. She'd been bored and wanted some fun and she knew that Noel would drop whatever it was he was doing for her father just to get into bed with her. He always did. "Listen, I gotta go."

She got out of the bed and quickly pulled her underwear back on and slid her short red dress on top. As she left the room, Noel didn't complain. All he wanted her for was sex, he wasn't bothered about cuddling afterwards- which Ireland was glad for. She'd never found a guy that she wanted to cuddle with afterwards and didn't see herself ever being that soppy and sentimental. Sex and relationships meant nothing to her and that was the way she liked it.

She went straight to the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. She lived in a hotel owned by her father that was occupied by all of his cronies and was always 'fully booked' if someone actually tried getting a room here. It would be just too dangerous for normal people to stay here, considering the amount of inner fights that went on amongst the group and the torture chambers in the hotel basement. The last thing they needed was somebody reporting them to the authorities.

When the doors of the lift slid open again, she walked into the lobby and smiled a hello at the fake receptionist, a red-haired girl called Roberta, Robbie for short. Robbie looked like the perfect receptionist, all girly and prim and proper. But behind that appearance, she was a twenty-odd year old with a filthy mouth and had a better aim with a gun than anyone in this place. Her actual job title was head of security and she had been working for Oliver for a few years now. She was the closest thing to a friend that Ireland had, what with her not trying to make friends with anyone else. What was the point of having friends? They were just a nuisance, that's the way she saw it.

"Hey Robbie," she said, leaning over the front desk. "You seen my dad anywhere?"

"Last I saw he was heading downstairs," Robbie said with a shrug, occupying herself by painting her nails a dark blue colour. "Mostly likely seeing what he can squeeze out of those fucking Benedict boys. I saw them this morning, they're a complete mess. It's a shame, they were gorgeous bastards."

Ireland laughed. "I had a go with the eldest one earlier. Gave him a few cuts on his chest with my dagger, that's all. He was a bit pathetic to be honest, so weak already. I reckon he'll be the first one to crack."

"Probably," Robbie nodded her head in agreement. The second elevator dinged as the doors opened. "Your dad's here."

Ireland turned around and walked in her father's direction, meeting him in the middle of the lobby. "Anything?" She asked.

"Not yet," he said in a gruff voice. Ireland knew her dad well enough to know that look on his face: somebody had pissed him off and somebody would most likely get killed if they got on his nerves in the next hour. "And before you ask, you're not going down to the other one."

"But daddy-"

"Don't complain, Ireland," he snapped before she had a chance to ask him why. She was desperate to get her hands on the second Benedict they had. The other one had been too easy and she'd heard from the guards that the second one had a bit more fight in him and would be a bigger challenge, which she loved when she was torturing somebody. It made it _so _much more fun. "I don't want you anywhere near him, the guards are taking care of it. We need that information about the weapon."

"Dad, I thought this was about getting revenge! They killed mum and Quinn, they put Evander in prison!" She reminded him angrily. "They broke our family apart and it's not fair that their family gets to live happily ever after. They deserve to hurt for what they did."

"And they will," he said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. "Trust me, we will make them pay for what they did. When we find out what this weapon is, it may even help us with our revenge. But for now, there's something I need you to do. I have a contact who hasn't paid a debt and you know I never let anybody get away with that."

Ireland grinned.

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**A hint about the next chapter: **Xav and Ireland meet for the first time.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Thank you for the lovely feedback on chapter one. Hope you like this one too! xo

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**10th October 2013**

Ireland waited until Robbie, her partner-in-crime on most outings, did her job. The flashing light of the house's alarm blinked twice more before stopping entirely and going dark. Robbie's savant power was to control technology so whilst Ireland went into the house, Robbie would keep the alarm from ringing and stop all the phones in this vicinity from working just in case anybody tried to call the police.

Ireland waited a few more seconds just to make sure the alarm really was off, before she easily picked the lock and slid silently into the house. She wore all black and her hair was tied back out of her face, the usual gear for sneaking around. She had been breaking into houses since she was thirteen and had been taught everything she knew by her father. This was a piece of cake for her.

She went slowly up the stairs, testing each step with a gentle push of her hand for any creaks before she stepped on it so that she didn't alert any of the family that she was there. The first bedroom was a baby's room, the second a teenager's. She left them alone; she may be one of the bad guys but she had a rule to never kill innocents. In most circumstances, anyway. She wouldn't hurt these children but their father on the other hand... Well, he was the one who had borrowed a large sum of money from Oliver Hawk so he could pay a hit-man to kill someone for him. Oliver didn't care what they used the money for, as long as they gave it back to him with a little added interest. This man was two weeks late on his payment. Probably thought that he could get away with it too, the sad git.

When she stepped into the parents' room, her face twisted into a grimace of disgust. The man's wife had bleach blonde hair and far too much fake tan on, curled up on her side facing away from her husband as if the mere thought of being near him in sleep turned her off. Her partner was an overweight, bearded man who had one hairy leg sticking out from under the covers and was snoring loudly. _How on Earth was she ever attracted to _that _repulsive thing? _Ireland thought to herself.

She quickly walked around to the man's side of the bed and put her hand over his mouth. His breath was hot on her hand and she wanted to pull away and scrub at her skin to get it clean again, but this was the easiest way to wake him up quietly so she stubbornly kept her hand there. It took a little over a minute for the lack of air to wake him up. His eyes were panicked as he looked at the girl leaning over him and he started to struggle a little.

"_Stop," _she thought to him telepathically. She'd already read over his file and knew that he was a savant. _"Stop otherwise I will kill your wife and children." _Scared of her threats, he stopped struggling but his body remained stiff from fear. _"I have a message from Oliver Hawk: you owe him money, Wayne. A lot of money."_

"_But it's more than I borrowed off him!" _Wayne thought back to her, his mental voice trembling. _"I can't get that kind of money, it's impossible. I'm sorry. Just please don't hurt my family. If you give me a little more time I might be able to sort something out. Please, I'm begging you."_

Ireland smiled. She'd heard it all before and if she was in a good mood, she sometimes did give them extra time; but they never came through. They were all such disappointments. _"You had two extra weeks because my father was so kind. I'm not like him; I don't give out second chances anymore. Don't want to be let down endlessly, you see. Getting sick of it. But don't worry Wayne, I'm not going to hurt your family."_

Her free hand slid into a pocket and pulled a syringe out. She didn't know exactly what was in it: they had a number of different serums – some to kill, some to knock out, some with other purposes entirely – and they were all created by some genius scientist in their group. He never revealed what chemicals he put in the serums but nobody cared much; they worked and that was all that mattered.

"_I'm going to hurt you," _she continued her thought conversation with him. _"My father was lenient but you didn't come through in the end. You were told there would be consequences if you didn't pay your debt." _With that, she plunged the syringe into Wayne's neck and injected the yellow-ish stuff into him.

It wasn't like some killing chemicals: it didn't make him have a fit and foam at the mouth. No, this one was much simpler. His body froze entirely and his skin started to go cold under Ireland's hand. The whites of his eyes went heavily bloodshot, the life seeping out of them as he stared up at her in horror. When they finally went lifeless, his body grew limp and Ireland stepped away from him, putting the empty syringe back into her pocket. She quickly went back down the stairs, hand sliding along the bannister.

If anybody figured out that Wayne hadn't simply died in his sleep and was in fact murdered, they wouldn't be able to pick up any of her fingerprints anyhow. She was wearing thick leather gloves that didn't leave any fingerprints.

The front door was closed softly behind her and she ran across the road in the darkness, ducking behind a wall where Robbie was waiting for her with Richard. Richard was Robbie's brother and had the power of putting people into a deep enough sleep that not even an earthquake would wake them up, and he didn't even need to touch them or see them to do it. He just needed to be in close enough range to get into their mind; even if they had strong shields, he could do his job well. He looked nothing like his sister and had dark hair and green eyes.

"How'd it go?" Robbie asked as Ireland joined them.

"He begged for more time," she chuckled, shaking her head. "Idiots. They just don't get it, do they? He's dead and nobody saw me. Smooth operation."

"So what did you need me here for?" Richard asked, frowning in confusion. Ireland usually only went on missions with Robbie but she had personally requested for Richard to join them today. However she hadn't had him use his power on Wayne's family. She had a feeling that it would be easy and she was right.

"That's not the only thing my dad asked me to do," she explained in a hushed tone. "He badly wants that information from our prisoners and he doesn't care which one it's from. He thinks he can get the eldest one to talk if he has a little motivation."

"And what motivation is that?" Robbie pressed.

"We're going to an apartment that's occupied by one of the Benedict's and his soulfinder. Richard, I need you to keep the Benedict asleep- be careful, he has a strong mind. Robbie and I will knock his soulfinder out and get her out of there. Easy peasy."

And it was.

* * *

Xav had been alone in the room for a few hours now and it was a nice break from the rough interrogation techniques Hawk had taught his men. Somehow he had managed to fall asleep, even in such an awkward position. He woke up when his body slumped forward painfully as a result of his wrists being released from the handcuffs. He was no longer chained up but with his body so exhausted and his arms limp at his side, he couldn't even find any effort to fight back and try to escape. Besides, even if he got out of this room he wouldn't be able to leave without Uriel. He wouldn't leave his brother behind; Uriel would never do that to him, he knew that for a fact.

He was lost in his pain, not able to focus on his surroundings until he was slapped out of it. Literally. Cheek numb, he looked up and prepared himself to glare at whichever man had come to abuse him this time. But it wasn't a man.

The girl took a step back so he could see her better. She was wearing black leggings and a black vest top that were tight to her body, revealing a natural, sexy curve to her figure and a slim waist, as well as the ample cleavage of breasts that would be considered large compared to the size of the rest of her body. Her long hair was in loose waves, brown with honey blonde highlights. She had a clear complexion and there was no denying that she was absolutely stunning. Round, amber eyes looked down at him and there was a coldness in her expression that gave Xav a shiver of fear down his spine.

Not wanting to show that he was scared of her, he forced a grim smile onto his face. It was the best he could do, what with all the swelling. "Let me guess," he said in a slow drawl. "You're Oliver Hawk's daughter, Ireland right?"

She bit her lip as she smiled down at him. "You're perceptive, Benedict. Congratulations," sarcasm oozed out of her voice.  
"Are you here to beat me up too?" He retorted. "Because I've already told your dear old dad that I'm not going to say anything."

"Oh I know, he's filled me in. Your brother on the other hand... He's a different case entirely. We've done our research on you lot and we know just how to get him talking. My dad's eager to get this over with, so get up. We're going to your brother's room and he is going to tell us exactly what we need to know."

Xav ordinarily would have refused to do as Ireland said, simply just to be his usual stubborn self. But he wanted to see Uriel, to see what they had planned for him, so he put his shaking hands on the floor and tried to push himself up. But it was too much of a struggle, he was too weak and couldn't support his own weight. He looked up at Ireland who looked furious at him.

"_I said: Get up!" _She demanded to him telepathically, her mental voice a shout that almost sent a tremor through his mind. Her voice was mean and harsh, but that became just a minor thing in the background compared to what else he felt.

Xav's mind lit up as sparks flicked through it, his body trembling with new-found energy. His heart stopped beating for a second as the realization hit him like a freight train. Feeling it, feeling how utterly different she was to the others he'd spoken to that way, gave him a bout of sudden strength and he pushed himself up until he was stood on his trembling legs. He towered over Ireland, with her barely even reaching his shoulders, and he looked down at her smug face.

"_Ireland, you're my soulfinder." _It took him a lot of strength to use telepathy, especially when he was so weak, but it felt easier with her than it did with anybody else. Their link was so strong, pulsing with intensity, and he was so shocked at how amazing it felt that he didn't even think about the fact that he knew what type of girl she was and how she was the complete opposite of what he'd wanted in a soulfinder.

It was very rare for a girl to feel the light and the sudden explosion the first time she spoke to her soulfinder telepathically – it was usually just the boy that felt it; or, in same sex couples, it was usually just one of them that felt it – but despite that, Xav could tell that Ireland had felt it too. Her mouth dropped open into a 'O' shape, her eyes wide and horrified and amazed and flabbergasted all at the same time.

She was speechless. So was he. They simply stood there for a long moment, staring into each other's eyes silently, and Xav was struck with desperate hope that she would be so thrilled with this that she'd change, that she'd let him and his brother go, that she'd leave her father's side and go home with him. It would be simple and easy and they would be happy together.

He hoped that they'd fall in love and have their happily ever after, just like his parents always told him would happen.

* * *

**A hint about the next chapter: **Uriel gets tested. Will he break?


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Even though it's carrying straight on from the last chapter, I've changed the date because it's early hours of the morning :)

* * *

**11th October 2013**

Ireland looked up at Xav, her mind going wild at the news of him being her soulfinder. _Stop it, Ireland, _she mentally chastised herself. _As if you could ever actually have a future with him. He'll kill you the first chance he gets, you can't trust him. The only person you can trust is your dad. Don't let Xav Benedict in; never let him in._

She took a step away from him, a cruel snarl on her face. "Wow," she folded her arms across her chest. "You know, that look in your eyes is actually hilarious. Do you really think that us being soulfinders means a damn thing to me? Ha! You should be thoroughly disappointed that the universe decided to put us together."

And he _was_ disappointed, she could tell as soon as her words left her mouth. The hope, the only light left in him after the past few days, fizzled out of his eyes and was replaced by a dull sadness. When she'd walked into the room, she had admired him. Even though he was covered in blood and his face was barely recognizable, and even though he was clearly totally exhausted, he had still tensed his body. He'd still looked into her eyes and spoken to her in a snarky, sarcastic tone. She guessed that was what the real Xav was like. However, this Xav... She'd broken him, she could instantly see it. He looked empty, like he had nothing left to live for. But did Ireland care? No. Because she had locked her emotions away in side of her like she always did so that she couldn't let herself care for this boy, so that she couldn't feel sorry for him and want to help him.

She grabbed hold of his arm tightly and started to drag him out of the room. He stumbled behind her but she didn't care and she ignored his groans of pain. She never cared about the people they tortured and she wasn't going to start now.

She refused to change who she was because of some stupid boy who thought he had some sort of supernatural claim to her. No good ever came from soulfinders.

* * *

Xav was unbelievably glad when Ireland dragged him into a room straight across from his so that he didn't have far to walk. Walking was killing him, in fact any movement at all was killing him. The pain was excruciating but still, that wasn't what was hurting him the most.

Ireland had rejected him. In all his years of dating, Xav had never been rejected. He was used to girls doing anything for him, falling at his feet as soon as he paid them the slightest attention. He had once even pulled a woman who was at a nightclub for her husband's birthday- having a quickie with a married woman in a nightclub bathroom was not his finest moment, he had to admit that fault, but it was proof that when he wanted a girl, he could get her.

So why couldn't he even get his own soulfinder? True, he didn't look his very best right now, but that shouldn't matter. They were soulmates, they were destined to be together, and she didn't even want him. How could he ever have a happy life now, knowing that his soulfinder didn't want him? The thought of knowing about her yet not being able to have a future with her terrified him.

He tried to console himself by reminding himself that Ireland was a Hawk; she was a murderer, a villain, a criminal. He didn't want that. He wanted a nice, down-to-earth girl that didn't kill innocent people. Why would anybody want to be with someone that had done the sort of things Ireland had?

But still, despite these thoughts, he was still broken-hearted that she wouldn't even contemplate being good, being with him so they could have a good life together.

Xav forced those thoughts to the back of his mind, not forgetting them exactly but not focusing on them. "Uriel!" He gasped when he noticed the young man sat on a chair in the middle of the room. Uriel looked just as bad as he reckoned he did, all bruised and bloody. Uriel was slumped in the chair and looked done for. Xav used what strength he had left to use his power to look at Uriel's life energy- it was weak, but not fading, so at least he knew that his brother wasn't dying. Uriel met his eyes but they didn't have a chance to say anything.

Xav jumped a little when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and he turned his head to see a large, beast of a man stood behind him. Ireland had disappeared. A door on the other side swung open and Oliver Hawk walked in, a smile on his face. He positioned himself at a place in the room where both Benedicts could see him.

"You see, Uriel. I wasn't lying when I told you that I hadn't killed your brother... Yet, anyway. But I'll kill him right in front of you now if you don't tell me what the damn weapon is." Oliver sounded angry and was speaking through clenched teeth, although he didn't raise his voice. Somehow that made him even more intimidating. Uriel glared at the man and didn't reply- this made Xav happy, knowing that his brother was holding out this long just like he was. Hawk sighed. "I thought you might feel that way. So I had my daughter retrieve something. Or I suppose I should say some_one_. Maybe this will convince you to talk?"

With those words, the door opened again and Ireland walked back into the room. She wasn't alone. Hazel was walking next to her, hands handcuffed behind her back and tape across her mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she looked terrified, the plain white tee she wore clinging tightly to her protruding, round stomach. To say she was five months pregnant with twins, she actually wasn't as big as other women got, but it was still achingly obvious that she was pregnant. Ireland hissed at her to keep moving and Hazel started to slowly walk over to where Oliver stood. As they got closer, Xav suddenly noticed that Ireland was holding a gun to Hazel's head; she pressed it against her temple when they stopped.

Xav saw Uriel shake his head a little, almost as if he thought that he was hallucinating, and gasped when he was sure this was real. "No!" He spoke as loud as he could, voice raspy and croaky. "No, please don't hurt her. She's pregnant, for crying out loud."

"Yes, I am aware of that," Ireland replied, looking quite bored with the whole situation. "She made sure to tell about a thousand times on the way here, but it doesn't make a difference." Xav honestly had no idea how Ireland had managed to kidnap Hazel considering Victor would have no doubt been there. And when somebody Victor loved was in danger, he was a force to be reckoned with and practically unbeatable. How had Ireland got the best of him?

Oliver cleared his throat and began to speak. "So Uriel, we did some research on you to try and find out who you care about. Not very much came up, other than your work colleagues. But then, get this! We found out that this lady here, Hazel Clarrison and the fiancée of your brother, is your ex girlfriend. And something tells me you still harbour an undying love for her. Am I right?"

Uriel was sobbing now and Xav pitied him greatly. The love triangle between Uriel, Hazel and Victor had always been a sore spot for the family and Uriel always seemed to get the brunt of all the pain and anguish. If any of the brothers deserved happiness, it was Uriel, but he never seemed to have any luck and it was clear that he'd lost hope of ever finding his soulfinder.

"Enough of the theatrics," Ireland snapped, frowning at her grinning father. "Uriel, I will shoot this girl in the head whether she is pregnant or not. And then we'll kill your brother, and then we'll kill you. Xavier refuses to speak, but maybe you'll do better than him. We warned you that this would end in death if you didn't give us the information you wanted, so why don't you just tell us and we'll let you go? All three of you. Surely this information isn't worth dying for."

But that was just the thing: it _was_ worth dying for. If 'the weapon' got into the wrong hands, it would mean the end of the savant world and the human world alike and would be the start of an entirely new, and much worse, world. Uriel knew that just as much as Xav did so he could tell that his brother was struggling with this. Uriel wanted to save the girl he loved and save his little brother too, but he didn't want that to be at the expanse of the rest of the world. Hazel was shaking her head at Uriel, trying to communicate to him to not say anything. Xav was proud of her for being so brave, for practically volunteering to sacrifice her life so the Hawk's couldn't get their hands on the weapon.

Xav studied Uriel's face and knew that he was about to spill the truth. And he knew that he would hate himself for it and constantly blame himself, yet another thing to add to the pile of shit he had to deal with on a daily basis. And Xav didn't want that for his brother.

So he spoke up before Uriel had a chance. "The weapon isn't a thing," he blurted out. He took a deep breath and looked only at Ireland as he revealed the secret, both hate and yearning for her in his eyes. "It's a person. A girl called Persephone Carter, she's the cousin of my sister-in-law. We've never met her and we have no idea where she is, none of us do. Her parents have her hidden somewhere. But she's still technically family so we wanted to protect her and stop anyone from using her for her powers."

"What are her powers?" Ireland curiously asked.

Xav shrugged a shoulder. Which hurt _a lot_. "I don't know. I swear. Look, you know everything now. Please let us go."

"No," Oliver responded in a flat voice. "Ireland, kill the girl."

"What?!" Xav shouted as Uriel swore loudly at the man. "No, you said we'd get out of here alive if we told you-"

"And I've changed my mind. My daughter and I want revenge on your family and this is the perfect opportunity to do that. Why would we turn that chance down? If we kill you, that sends a message to your family and anyone else who thinks they can break us. Ireland, _kill the girl_."

Xav's eyes flicked back to his dreadful soulfinder and was shocked to see that she'd lowered the gun and was looking at her dad in bewilderment. "But dad, we never go back on our word," she stammered. "It's one of our rules. They told us about the weapon, that's all we needed them for."

Oliver walked over to Ireland and slapped her around the face hard with the back of his hand. The sound of the slap echoed in the room and Xav winced as if he had felt the blow himself. "When I tell you to do something girl, you do it! Who do you think you are to talk back to me like that? Do I need to send you back to the confinement room to think over what you've done wrong?"

Ireland's hand dropped from her reddened cheek and she took a step backwards, pure fear in her eyes as she struggled to meet her father's gaze. She looked like a completely different person to the one that had rejected Xav so cruelly. "I'm sorry, daddy," she said quietly, sounding like a petrified little girl. "No, I don't need to go back to the room. I was simply trying to tell you that I think we should let them go. We'll find the weapon and we'll change the world and the Benedict family will have to live with the knowledge that they are the reason so many will be dead. And then, when they think their world can't get any worse, we'll start killing them off one by one and they will be living a nightmare." Her voice became sterner and more determined as she talked.

Xav's heart sank. For a short moment there, he thought that Ireland was trying to do the right thing by saving him, that maybe she wanted to protect her soulfinder by helping him get out of here. She'd almost looked guilty, like she didn't want to kill any of them... But that guilt had left her expression now and was replaced by a harsh, mean one that looked like it took pleasure in the thought of destroying the Benedicts. All of a sudden, Xav was enraged with true hate for the girl, soulfinder or not.

Oliver was silent for a minute and those in the room all waited tensely, wondering whether his reaction would be a good one or a bad one. Finally, he raised a hand and didn't stop when Ireland flinched a little. Then, he gently stroked her sore cheek and smiled at her. "That's my girl," he said softly. "Just as I raised you, coming up with brilliant ideas. Your mother would be so proud, you know."

"You agree with me, then?"

"I do," he nodded. "We'll let them go. For now. But we'll come back for them, they can count on that."

* * *

Blue sat cross-legged on the sofa quietly as the Benedict family fell apart around her. It was the early hours of the morning and Blue had been awoken when she felt how distressed Zed was through the soulfinder bond. She'd come round to their house straight away – still dressed in her pyjamas and surprised to find the whole family there – only to be told that Victor was panicked because he'd woken up to find Hazel gone and couldn't get in touch with her at all, not even via telepathy.

The family were already distraught over Uriel and Xav being kidnapped and it was becoming too much for them. Victor was pacing the living room, calling people for help and trying constantly to reach Hazel. Blue was close with Victor and saw him as an older brother; she wanted to comfort him but had no idea what to say. Besides, he kept brushing away the other family members whenever they tried to talk to him.

She stood up from the sofa slowly, making sure not to wake up Gracie who had fallen asleep resting against her. Blue managed to leave the room unnoticed and headed upstairs to Zed's room. He had angrily stormed out of the living room twenty minutes earlier, slamming the door behind him, but she hadn't followed him. She wanted to give him a little time to calm down, but she couldn't sit in that room anymore and listen to Karla crying and see the usually strong Benedict boys let their pain out in different ways.

When she went into Zed's room, his room was a mess. Everything had been flung out of place, the TV remote smashed on the floor. Zed was sat on the edge of his bed, clutching at his hair and his shoulders shaking with tremors as he cried. "Hey," she crooned gently, pulling his hands out of his hair before he hurt himself and sitting down beside him. "Zed, shh. Everything's going to be okay."

He looked at her and shook his head. "You don't know that. How do you know that?"

"Because that's what you told me after my mum died. I didn't think things could be better ever again, but they are. I know this is a mess and your family is being torn apart, but we'll all get past this. Together, like a family. Your brothers and Hazel will be okay, they have to be. Sitting around crying about it isn't going to change anything," she said, not unkindly.

"I'm so scared, Blue," he admitted quietly, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.

He was a mess, so Blue did the only thing she could think of at that moment to take his mind off everything: she kissed him. It was their first proper kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck and his slid around her waist and they melted into each other. Zed fell backwards on the bed, pulling her down with them and easily turning so that he was on top of her. And still, they kept on kissing desperately, clinging to each other as their lips melded together so perfectly. Blue could almost forget about everything else, she was so lost in the kiss.

_Why didn't I kiss him sooner? _She thought to herself. _This is amazing... So lovely... This is all I want to do for the rest of my life._

When they finally broke apart, both of them breathless, Zed kissed her again once more, softly, before smiling at her. "I've waited for what feels like a long time for that," he whispered. "And still, it was so much better than my fantasies."

"Oh, you've fantasized about me, have you?" She smirked. "I don't quite know how to feel about that."

"Well let's just say, not all of them would have a PG rating," he said cockily. The smile faded from his face then and he went serious. "Thank you. I mean it. For coming over here in the middle of the night just to see if I was okay, for staying in the middle of a family crisis, for making me feel better and giving me hope. You're the best."

"You don't have to thank me. You would have done the same for me," she stroked his cheek. "And besides, that kiss was for me as well as for you. I needed a distraction too."

"_Um, guys?" _Yves' voice popped into her mind and she got the feeling that he was communicating with the whole family. _"I was just watching the security tapes and a white van just stopped at the bottom of the hill, just out of reach of our security measures. You know, the alarms."_

"_Get to the point, Yves." V_ictor sounded impatient and cranky as he replied.

"_Right. Yeah. Well, they opened the back of the van and I thought that was really weird so I zoomed in. They let three people out of the van and left them on the street before they drove off. They left Uriel, Xav and Hazel on the street. They're making their way to the house now, but Uriel and Xav look pretty bad. They're struggling."_

Blue felt everyone's relief and lessened worry through the shared link. _"Zed, come downstairs," __V_ictor said. _"Me, you and Trace will go and help them up the hill. Yves, get ready to put the whole house on lock-down as soon as we get back. And the Williamson house too, just in case. Come on, hurry up!"_

"Go," Blue ordered, pushing on Zed's chest until he climbed off the bed and stood up. "Go on, before he charges out of here on his own." Zed nodded and walked over to the door. "Oh, and Zed? Don't try and do anything stupid and get yourself hurt."

"Now, would I ever do that?" He asked in a jokingly innocent voice, in a happier mood after Yves' announcement.

"Yes. Yes you would actually."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Hey, just a note to say thank you so, so much for the reviews. Seriously, they make me so happy and I love reading them.

Also, as you might be aware, the only brothers I haven't wrote a story for in my series yet are: Will, Yves and Uriel. But each of their soulfinders get a little mention in this chapter, as well as one of them making a small appearance! :D

Oh and if you want a little spoiler for each of those future stories, read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter :)

* * *

**11th October 2013**

_K__eep going, keep going, keep going._ Xav repeated the mantra to himself repeatedly to get the inner strength he needed to keep walking.

He was in a terrible state, him and Uriel both being hit in the van just so Hawk's men could have a little 'fun' as they dropped them off at home. They were both just glad that they had at least some morals and left Hazel alone though, so they didn't complain.

The hill leading up to the Benedict's house was a paved road and about a five minute walk, but it felt like much longer because of the amount of time it was taking and because they were so exhausted already. The two boys were both struggling and Hazel was walking alongside them, a hand cradling her bump.

"He's going to go after Persephone now," Hazel spoke in a tired, worried voice. It was the first time any of them had spoken since they'd been dumped out of the van. "He might kill her."

"I still don't regret telling him," Xav admitted, squeezing her arm in comfort. "I wasn't going to let him kill you or the babies. If Persephone really is as dangerous as everyone says she is, I'm sure that she'll be able to handle herself. Besides, I doubt it'll be easy for them to track her down, her parents have been pretty good at keeping her hidden all these years."

It took a thoughtful moment for Hazel to reply. "I hope you're right."

"HAZEL!" A booming shout interrupted them and all three looked up to see Victor charging down the hill towards them, Trace and Zed running not far behind him. It took just a few long seconds for him to reach them and his attention was focused solely on his fiancée as he grabbed her instantly.

"Vick," Hazel sobbed in relief. They clung onto each other in a loving, desperate embrace, and it was so sweet and passionate that it made Xav want to scream in frustration and lash out at somebody.

How _dare_ they be so happy and practically rub it in his face? There was no chance of him having what they had, not anymore. So it wasn't fair that they got to be so in love and he had nothing. He couldn't wipe these envious, ugly thoughts from his mind even though he was fully aware that it wasn't their fault. But still, he couldn't stand the sight of two soulfinders so sickeningly and madly in love. He was just _so angry._

Clouded by his anger, he couldn't focus on Hazel and Victor's conversation, although he did manage to see Uriel looking at the couple with a forlorn expression on his face. Of course, Xav thought to himself. It would be harder on Uriel seeing the two of them together. Of course. It hit him then that some of the Benedict boys were in trouble now: he with his murderer soulfinder that didn't want him; Uriel, still in love with Hazel even though he knew they could never be together; Will, who looked like his calm and relaxed self still, but whom everybody had realized was slipping and exhausting himself out by putting so much effort into his FBI training; and Yves, who was shutting himself off from the rest of the family and constantly going out without saying where to. Xav was just waiting for the moment they all exploded and inevitably caused a crack in the family's closeness.

As they walked back up to the house, him now leaning against Zed for support and Uriel against Trace, Xav thought of Ireland. What was she doing right now? Was she upset about their lack of a future, or was she truly glad of it? Was she moping around in unhappiness, or was she already with another guy? He knew nothing about her, had no idea what she liked to do in her spare time; nothing. Yet he couldn't stop thinking about her. It was so infuriating and he pushed her to the back of his mind, imagined her being locked in a room, and refused to let himself think of her again. Not yet, anyway.

The next half an hour or so seemed to pass in a blur to him, mostly because he was fighting unconsciousness. They got home and all the family were there. Gracie was awake and joined Karla in crying over how the two brothers looked. Karla and Georgie attempted to clean them up and get rid of some of the blood. Karla begged Xav to heal himself and Uriel, knowing full well that he couldn't heal himself and was too weak to heal his brother. Victor and Hazel curled up together on one of the living room chairs and seemed in their own world, Victor looking so relieved and tired. Blue kept running back and forth from the room and the kitchen, changing the buckets of bloody water to clean water. Will pressed the three that were kidnapped for any information, getting frustrated when none of them answered. Uriel demanded that his father call some girl called Vivienne, God knows why, before he passed out.

So much happening in a such a short time, yet Xav could only describe it all as list and wouldn't have been able to provide anyone with certain details. He wanted to pass out like Uriel had, his entire body was drained of energy and aching with pain. But apparently, his stupid body had other ideas and kept him awake. And when Karla sat next to him and pulled his head to rest against her shoulder, cradling him and stroking his hair, telling him that he would be okay now and that she'd never let anyone hurt him again, he didn't pull away and claim he was too old for this. Because the truth was, he'd never be too old to be cuddled by his mum, especially when he was ill or injured.

He was almost asleep now, his mother's soothing words bringing a peacefulness to him that he hadn't felt for a long time, but jerked fully awake again when he heard a knock on the front door. For a second, he thought it might be Ireland... But then he figured that if for some reason she had come to the house, she'd break in most likely. She didn't come across as the type of girl to knock before entering somebody's home.

Saul went to answer the door and came back a moment later with a woman. She had fiery natural red hair and big green eyes, a pretty face with a timid expression, and a tall, slim body. Her hands clutched her wool coat and she looked around the room, observing the situation. "Uriel!" She gasped when she saw him, laid down on the sofa and still asleep. She rushed over and knelt down by his head, looking up at the rest of them, her eyes lingering on Xav and his injuries for a moment. "What happened to him?"

"I'm not quite sure how much you know about us, what we do... I don't know how much to tell you," Will answered her, which was unusual seeing as that was usually Victor's job. He looked to his older brother for assistance, but Victor shrugged and focused his attention back on his soulfinder. "What do you know?"

"Is that your not-so-sly way of asking if I know you're savants?" She smiled warmly at her, although her eyes still portrayed her worry. "Because I do. Know that, I mean. I'm a savant too."

"You're Vivienne, aren't you?" Karla asked, straightening up a little but continuing to stroke Xav's hair. "You work with Uriel, I remember him mentioning you. He never said that you were a savant though. So... How old are you?" She tried to sound casual, but they all knew that she was trying to find out if Vivienne might possibly be a soulfinder of one of her boys.

"Almost 24, like Uriel. And my birthday is in the same month as his too," Vivienne admitted, her cheeks blushing. This gave Xav the impression that she was a shy, reserved girl.

"Have you tried...? I mean, you might be-"

"We can't try telepathy," Vivienne said quickly. "I can't do telepathy, there's something wrong with my mind apparently. The net has had people try and fix it for me but... They've had no luck so far." She looked back at Uriel and Xav saw a fleeting look in her eyes. It was only there for a second and then it was gone, covered up, and Xav doubted anyone else in the room had looked closely enough to see the look, but he'd definitely seen it. It was longing. Longing and love. Xav deducted straight away what was going on: Vivienne had feelings for Uriel, feelings that she hid from him, and she probably wished she could see if they were soulfinders. It was a shame that Uriel was so hooked on Hazel and oblivious to the fact that he had a nice girl interested in him.

"Uri, Xav and Hazel were kidnapped," Will explained to Vivienne. "Let's just say that the people weren't exactly nice to the lads. Uriel told my dad to call you, I'm not sure why though."

"Probably because of this." She lifted a manicured hand and placed it flat on Uriel's chest, her eyelids fluttering closed. And that was all everybody else could see, but Xav... He could see what was really going on because he was familiar with it himself. Uriel's life energy, weak and grey, started to pulse around him as a gold sheen flowed from Vivienne's energy and into Uriel's. His energy began to regain its own bright, golden colour as the cuts and bruises on his body started to seal themselves together. It was a pure job, the wounds closing perfectly in a way that left no scar or infection.

"You're just like me," Xav exclaimed, the most he'd spoken since he'd got home. "You're a healer."

"Yes," she nodded and stood up, walking over to him. She held her hand out towards him. "May I?"

Realising that she was asking for permission, he nodded and sat up, no longer leaning into Karla. He closed his eyes as her hand pressed against his chest, relaxing in the feeling of his body being healed and his pain fading away. Before he fell asleep from the numbness in his body, his last thought was of Ireland.

_She was so beautiful._

* * *

Hours later, in the evening of that same day, Xav sat on one end of the sofa. Zed was in the middle, Yves on the other side of Zed, and the three youngest brothers were watching one of the classic James Bond movies together. He was thankful for it to be honest, having been smothered with Karla's love and attention all day. Of course he liked having her attention and being close with his mum, but after three hours of it constantly, it became tiring.

"Okay. I've had enough," Zed suddenly said. "Yves, you've been on your phone for the past half hour and not only is it rude, but it's annoying. Who the hell are you texting?"

"Hey!" Yves shouted as Zed moved quickly and snatched the phone out of his brother's hand. "Zed, give it back!"

"One sec," Zed said, laughing and pushing Yves away from him as he tried to get his phone back. "_Yves honey, __you don't even have to ask__! Of course you're not hotter than Jensen Ackles, nobody is. Winky-face." _He read out in a mocking tone of voice, making Xav snicker. Teasing their brothers was always a favourite pass-time for all seven of them. As he handed the phone back to Yves, Zed asked, "does Yves the geek finally have a girlfriend? What's she called, then? Is she from school? Do I know her? And the most important question: _is she hot?!_" He laughed again, loudly.

"Like that matters to you when you have Blue," Yves snapped. "She's called Jess, that's all I'm telling you. It's none of your damn business."

"Ooh bitchy," Xav waggled his eyebrows.

"But there's like a thousand Jess' at school!" Zed replied, obviously exaggerating but his point being made clear. "Why are we only finding out about this now? When are you bringing her round to meet mum? 'Cause I wanna be there for that, it'll be hilarious."

"That's not going to happen! We've been dating a few months and I actually like this girl, I don't want to ruin things. Which is exactly why I'm not bringing her to the house or letting her get involved in our bat-shit crazy family," said Yves, frustration clear in his voice. He stood up and went to leave the room, turning back around before he left to say, "and don't you dare say a word about this to anyone. Either of you. I mean it."

Once he was gone, Zed looked at Xav and grinned. "Aw, baby brother's got his first girlfriend!" He put on a fake accent, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes.

"You know he's older than you, right?" Xav pointed out.

"Well yeah, but only by a year. And I'm much more mature than he is."

"Yeah. Sure you are," Xav replied with heavy sarcasm.

As they turned back to watch the movie, Xav felt his phone vibrate in his pocket so he slid it out, frowning when he saw that he had a text from a blocked number. He wondered what the hell this was about as he clicked on 'read text'.

_**Hey, soulfinder. Bet you thought you'd heard the last of me, eh? We need to talk. Meet me tomorrow at 4pm, at the bar in the Ridge hotel. It's important. Come alone, otherwise I'll leave straight away. I'm not going to say please so don't expect me to. I know you'll be there. You won't let me down, right? - Ireland.**_

* * *

Author's note: Ok, so I guess this is following on from the AN above the chapter.

As you may have noticed, I get the titles for my stories from songs that can relate to the story and/or kind of tell the story a little.

This story's title is from the song _Best Of You_ by Foo Fighters so if you listen to the song/lyrics of that song, I personally think it matches where this story is going to go.

So I've planned out the future stories and named them, so I'll tell you them. If you listen to the lyrics of these songs, it might give you some insight as to where that story is going to go. Or it might not. Whatever. At least it's some information about them haha. So I love all three songs but I mainly chose them for the lyrics and the story they tell.

- Uriel and Vivienne's story will be called **Hits Your Soul** and their song is _Love Is Hard_ by James Morrison.  
- Will and Persephone's story will be called **Bring Me To Life** and their song is _Bring Me To Life_ by Evanescence.  
- Yves and Jessamine's story will be called **Before You Set Me Free** and their song is _Somebody's Me_ by Enrique Iglesias.

So yeah. Just thought I'd share that because I'm excited about them, haha.

Please remember to leave reviews for this chapter of TBOY :) xo


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: OK, so firstly, it feels like I haven't updated this or Innocent Illusions in a while. I'm sorry about that. I just have a ton of coursework to do for college so I've had to focus all my attention on that and take a short break from writing fanfics. Plus, I've been working on an original story (it's finally happening!) and I've kind of just been lost in my own new world.

Secondly, this is only a short chapter - a little over 1850 words - and I'm so sorry for that. That's because of the reasons above, as well as the fact that it is my 19th birthday tomorrow! :D (my birthday's 15th Feb) I wanted to get this chapter out before my birthday so I'm just making it in time. If it wasn't my birthday tomorrow, I might have added more to the chapter then but I won't have time to write and I just really wanted to get this chapter out. So here it is.

Thirdly, even though it's only a short chapter, it's a very important one. It basically sets out the catalyst for the whole storyline, so yeah. And I'm sorry the scene is split in two, I just felt it was needed and that the different POV's would make it better.

* * *

**12th October 2013**

Quiet laughter could be heard over the sound of the piano playing and the people sat at the tables and bar were all sophisticated, prim businesspeople. The Ridge hotel was a five-star one, a hotel for rich clientele and the perfect place to have a private conversation with nobody paying attention to you.

In the back corner, sat in a booth shrouded in darkness, was Ireland Hawk. Her blonde hair was tied back into a tight ponytail and she wore plain, dull clothes that didn't bring any attention to her. Usually, if she wasn't wearing all black for jobs, she liked to wear vibrant colours and vivid patterns. But they made her stand out and she didn't want that to happen today.

When Xavier Benedict entered the large, open space, Ireland barely even recognised that it was him. The last and only time she had seen him, he'd been beaten bloody and his face swollen, making his true appearance illegible. He was unbeliveably tall, definitely over 6 foot, and he had a slim physique dressed in trendy, designer-looking clothes. The boy had style, she had to give him that. Suprisingly, there was no evidence of his time at her father's- all of his bruises were gone, leaving behind a pale, smooth and handsome face. He lifted a hand to ruffle his hair – dark roots with blonde highlights – as his bright blue eyes scanned the room cautiously. Because of the darkened corner that Ireland was in, he didn't seem to spot her and headed straight to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools.

Ireland watched as Xavier spoke to the bartender for a moment, before he paid for a drink that he slowly took a small sip of. She waited a minute or two, her mind feeling outwards to make sure there were no other savants there watching them together. When she was satisfied that they were alone, she stood up and walked over to the bar.

As she slid onto the stool to Xav's left, he looked at her and frowned. "I'm not going to bother asking how you got my number," he started the conversation. "I just want to say that I don't want any small talk. Whatever you want from me, just say it straight so I can get out of here."

"Hello to you too," she snarkily responded, raising her eyebrows. "I guess I won't bother asking how you're magically healed then, either. I did my research; I know that your power is healing. I didn't know you could heal yourself too."

"I can't." He didn't elaborate any further. "Look, you made yourself perfectly clear: you want nothing to do with me, even though we're soulfinders. So why would you want to meet up? Makes me think that you need something from me. So whatever it is, spit it out."

"Fine," she snapped. She took a deep breath to compose herself and her anger before she looked him straight in his eyes, surprised at how beautiful they were and how they made her want curl up in a ball and weep from how perfect he was. _Ugh_, she thought to herself. _Just get it over with. _"Your healing power. I was wondering if that makes you able to see people's life energies and be able to see if something is wrong with them."

"If I focus, then yeah." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why are you asking?"

"I think there might be something wrong with me. But I can't know for certain so I need you to use your power to let me know."

* * *

Xav couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.

On one hand, it was ridiculous. If she thought there was something wrong with her, why wouldn't she go see a doctor? Somebody professional could tell her the answers just as well as he could. He wouldn't be surprised if she was lying and this was somehow some elaborate trap. God, he was so stupid for agreeing to meet his kidnapper's daughter who was in on the whole thing. Who the hell did that?!

Yet on the other hand, she didn't look like she was joking. Maybe she looked serious all the time, but there was a look in her eyes now that made Xav think that this was a real thing she was worried about. She looked almost... Scared. She hadn't lost her tough look, not at all, but there was an underlying sense of fear and worry that made him feel bad for her. It also made him want to embrace her in a comforting hug which made him want to punch himself in the face for thinking, even just for a split second, that she would allow him to do that.

"And what," he spoke slowly, contemplating the right way to phrase this, "pray tell, do you think is wrong with you?"

"God, I don't know!" She was frustrated and angry. She shook her head. "I don't know. I just... I keep losing time. Like, one minute I'll be talking to my friend and the next thing I know I'm somewhere else entirely. It's like time passes without me, or I keep forgetting things seconds after I've done them. I'm not sure how to explain it. Also, sometimes things will happen and I'll have memories of them, like I can vividly see in my mind me doing that thing, but I don't actually remember doing it. I can't remember the sensations of doing it, or remember what thoughts were going on in my mind at the time. But I know that I did it because the memories are there. Does that make any sense? It's not making any sense, is it? And you're looking at me like you think I'm insane. Great."

Xav didn't know what kind of facial expression he was making but he quickly changed it to a neutral, less-shocked look. "No, no. Of course not," he scratched his forehead, frowning as he gathered his thoughts. "I just- I've never heard anything like that before. Losing time and black outs can be signs for a number of things, physical or mental illnesses. But the memory thing, well I've never heard of that before. Have you told anybody else about this?"

"No," she scoffed at him as if he were an idiot. "Of course not. I don't know anybody that I can fully trust not to hold that against me."

"But you trust me?"

"Not exactly. I just know that you most likely won't tell your family about this because that would mean you'd have to tell them I'm your soulfinder, which I'm pretty sure you don't want to do." She was right, but he didn't point that out. "Plus, I know you'll be able to tell me if I'm just insane or if there's something serious going on. So use your power, tell me what the hell is going on in my mind." She paused for a moment before the look in her eyes changed to a desperate one. "Please."

Knowing that it probably took a lot out of her to use manners and be a normal, polite person – note the sarcasm – Xav nodded his head. "Just give me a moment to focus."

His eyes fluttered shut as he drew the energy of his power from inside him and breathed in deeply, letting it overtake his senses, most importantly: his sight. When he opened his eyes again, Ireland looked completely the same, other than the golden glow around her body. The fact that her aura was gold was a sign that she was in good health and no physical ailments were sticking out to him. However when he delved into the energy of her mind, it was a whole different story.

He told Ireland what he saw. "I can't completely figure out what's wrong with your mind, but there's definitely something. It's a good colour and it feels strong, but if I push past that strength I can feel something else. It's dark, it feels... Foreboding, dangerous. It's energy is unlike to yours, as if it isn't even a part of you at all. You're right; there's something wrong. But I don't know what it is."

He switched his power off, the glow and energy disappearing from sight, and saw Ireland gulp. She looked so young at that moment, innocent and unlike the heartless killer he had met just two days beforehand. As if she sensed that he'd seen her looking comparatively weak, she looked away from him and stared ahead, at the glasses of expensive wine displayed behind the bar.

She was silent for at least a minute, and Xav left her to it, figuring that she was probably just lost in her own thoughts and panicked about what she'd just learnt about her own mind.

Xav himself was panicked over it. There was something really off with her mind and he hated that he couldn't tell what it was. He couldn't even put into words just how dark and disturbing it felt. Whatever was in Ireland's mind honestly terrified him. He felt like if he'd kept looking at it for a moment longer, he may just have gone truly insane. If that's how he felt about the whole thing, he dreaded to know what Ireland was feeling over it.

When she finally looked back at him, she was again the same girl he'd met two days ago. The innocence was lost from her eyes and expression, and she was back to being a tough, intimidating girl with a heartless look in her eyes. He didn't understand how she had transformed so quickly.

"I'd say thank you but I really don't think you deserve a thanks," she bitterly said. "You didn't help me at all, just told me something I could kind of already feel myself. I'm leaving now." She jumped down off the stool and turned to walk away, but Xav grabbed her arm to stop her. "What?" she snapped, spinning back around to face him.

"Well it's just..." He sighed. "I want to help you. I don't like you, but I want to help. It's literally in my genes to help people. Why don't you stay for a bit longer? We can try and figure out what it is, I can try and fix it."

"I don't want to be fixed!" She raised her voice and pulled her arm from his grip. "God, Xav. Just leave me alone."

"You're the one that asked me to meet you!"

"And that was a mistake," her voice was flat. "It won't happen again."

She stormed off and left the room, leaving Xav bewildered and absolutely unable to figure out how the hell that just ended on such a bad note and why on Earth it had seemed as if she'd suddenly switched personalities. He almost jumped when he suddenly heard the bartender's voice from beside him. "I will never understand girls. And that one, your girl, she sure has some mood issues."

"She sure as hell does," Xav was quick to agree. "I have no fucking idea what just happened."

* * *

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave reviews, maybe even let me know what you think is going on with Ireland? I doubt anyone will guess exactly what I have in mind, but I think some might come close. I'd love to know what you all think I have planned! :) x


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: So if you hadn't noticed, I've changed the little synopsis thing above. That's really just because as I was writing the first few chapters of the story, I changed my initial plot line so the new synopsis describes the story better in my opinion.

I feel like I just need to put a little warning before this chapter because it contains a few issues that may be a trigger/may upset people: attempted murder, some swearing, a parent abusing his child.

* * *

**14th November 2013**

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Chéng hissed in Mandarin, shoving Ireland's shoulder with his hand. "You've been off your game for far too long now, get it together! Do you want me to give your father a bad report on your progress, eh? What's happened?!"

He was angry, and rightly so. Chéng was Ireland's fighting instructor- he'd taught her boxing, mixed martial arts, karate, taekwondo, judo, jiu-jitsu, kick boxing, samurai... All the possible fighting styles you could think of, Ireland had probably at least been taught the basics of them. He'd been training her since she was just three years old and she was almost as good as him by now. They met up three times a week, due to her father's request, and it was normally a challenge for them both. They loved the competitiveness they shared and had fun trying to get the other knocked out or onto the ground. Today was the first time in a very long time that Ireland had gone down easily and had been terrible at fighting back.

The true answer to his question was a person that went by the name Xavier Benedict. _That's_ what had happened. It had been a little over a month since she'd last seen him and for some reason, she missed the loser. It was like the soulfinder bond was aching, hurting her and screaming at her to go back to him and never leave his side again. She hated how vulnerable it made her feel and how it made her unable to focus on anything else for long without his stupid face popping into her mind.

Of course, she didn't tell Chéng that. They may have been somewhat friends but he would tell her dad straight away and even if Ireland didn't like Xav, she didn't want him dead because of her. His family on the other hand... She wouldn't mind if they died. That was what she wanted, right? Revenge for the deaths they'd caused in her family. God, when had all this become so complicated?!

She looked up at the dark-haired Chinese man glaring down at her and sighed as she stood up again and took her boxing gloves off. "Sorry, Chéng." As far as she knew, the guy didn't speak a word of English so she'd had to learn Mandarin to actually be able to understand him and to communicate with him. The language flowed easily from her mouth now. "Guess I'm just tired. Dad's had me out almost every night, trying to hunt down Persephone Carter. We don't even know where to start looking for her though, it's impossible."

"Don't let your father hear you talking like that, kid." Chéng replied, shaking his head. He took his own gloves off and they stepped out of the ring, heading over to the bench where all their stuff was. "There's no such thing as impossible in his mind."

"You can say that again," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. Sometimes she was truly sure that her father was psychotic, not that she would admit that out loud of course. "I promise I'll try to focus better next time, Chéng. Things have just been hard recently." She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath...

… And when she opened her eyes again, she was staring down into the terrified eyes of a man she knew was named Carl. _How did I get here?_ She thought to herself in disarray. _What's going on?_

But that was a stupid thought, she told herself. Of course she knew what was going on. Carl Reynolds was a drug dealer, known for killing anyone who was the slightest threat to him. Oliver had got back shortly after Ireland's session with Chéng had finished, bloody and terribly furious. He'd had a deal with Carl for the two of them to work together to take down a local gang but Carl had betrayed Oliver, killing two of Oliver's men in the process.

Oliver had asked Ireland to take care of it, so she'd hunted the large thug of a man down and after a bit of a struggle, she had him pinned to the ground.

That's what had happened. She'd simply forgotten for a moment, but now she remembered. Just like all those other times, like she'd told Xav, where she couldn't actually remember doing something physically but she had the memories in her mind so obviously it had happened. She was just being stupid, she chastised herself. Her mind was playing tricks with her like usual but it was nothing serious. Right?

A moan of pain brought her out of her thoughts and into the present. She was straddling Carl's chest and holding a sharp dagger to his tattooed throat.

Ireland hesitated. That was something she didn't understand: she'd never, not even once, hesitated when she was about to kill somebody. Yet seeing this man more than twice her size looking so little and vulnerable beneath her, quivering in fear at the thought of death, she didn't want to kill him. What had he ever done to her to deserve being killed?

A thought slid to the front of her mind. It was in her voice and it was her thought, but it had an underlying tone of darkness to it that felt completely _other_ to her. _He tried to kill your dad, the only family that you have left. You would have been alone if he'd managed to go through with it._

The truth in the statement compelled her and she smiled a cruel smile, one that didn't reach her eyes but made them narrow with even more hate for the pathetic excuse of a man beneath her. She pulled back her arm and calmly said, "my father sends his regards."

And then, in the blink of an eye, Ireland slit Carl Reynolds' throat open.

* * *

Once a savant had met their soulfinder, that was it. They couldn't look at anybody else in the same way, they couldn't stand the thought of being with somebody else, and it was pure torture to be away from them for long periods of time. Like being away from them for over a month, for example. Xav had had no idea it would be this hard to be away from the dreaded, complicated, heartless Ireland Hawk that he didn't even like, yet felt protective of at the same time. And he missed her. He couldn't understand that.

Xav was in training to be a doctor and volunteered at the hospital on his days off, which is where he was now. He was just filling out some paperwork when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his eldest brother talking to one of the doctors outside the ICU. Curious, he left the paperwork to a fellow student and wandered over, hands in the pockets of his scrubs.

"Trace?" He said after the doctor had walked away. "What are you doing here?"

"Following up on something the hospital reported," he pushed open the door and started to stroll down the corridor, Xav following beside him. Trace was in his police uniform, probably having just come here from the station. "They got a patient in, a guy we've been looking for for a while now. Carl Reynolds, he's a drug dealer and suspected murderer. He's in with a slit throat, God knows how he survived that."

"Well actually people have survived that plenty of times," Xav said in a monotone voice, his knowledge not making him happy like it normally did. "It depends. If he received medical attention quickly, and if the weapon didn't cut open his jugular... It's highly possible for him to survive."

"Yeah, well. I've gotta talk to him about it. He's in this room," he added as they stopped outside room 13. They went into the room, shutting the door behind themselves.

It was a private room with only one patient in. Carl Reynolds was awake, sat up stiffly with a thick bandage wrapped around his neck. He was a muscular-looking man, comically too large for the bed by the looks of it, with a bald head and messy stubble. Tattoos covered all his body that Xav could see and he had an ugly scar running down one cheek.

"Mr Reynolds," Trace spoke, holding up his identity badge. "I'm Trace Benedict, I'm with the Denver and Wrickenridge police department."

"If this is about last month, I went to court. They found me not guilty-"

"This isn't about any of your previous convictions, Mr Reynolds," Trace assured him. "In fact, this is about what was done to you. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a few questions-"

"There's no need," he grimly replied. "I can tell you exactly who tried to kill me: Ireland Hawk. The bitch tackled me to the floor and smiled – she fucking smiled – as she sliced my neck open! She's a fucking lunatic, she deserves the death penalty!"

Trace replied but Xav didn't hear a word he said. Ireland. Ireland had been the one to try and kill Carl. Xav's first thought was: it couldn't have been Ireland, she'd have got the job done. But what benefits did Carl have for lying about it? And as badly as Xav hated to admit it, he knew that Ireland probably did kill people. She was definitely capable of it.

It suddenly felt like the air in the room was being sucked away and he couldn't breathe. Without a word, he turned around and left the room, leaning his back against the wall opposite the door and taking deep breaths. He tried to get Ireland out of his mind but he couldn't. Would his brother start hunting her down now? No, he was already looking for the Hawk's after they kidnapped Xav and Uriel. But this was just another thing for them to hold against her! She'd definitely go to prison now, there was no doubt about it.

He didn't even know why he cared so much. If they hadn't been soulfinders, he would have said that she deserved everything she got for the crimes she committed. But the fact was they _were_ soulfinders. And no matter what she had done, there was a part of him that wanted to run out of here and warn her, to protect her from his own brother. A part of him even wanted to turn against the net, to join her side just so he could be with her, and that terrified the living daylights out of him. Never in his life had he contemplated changing sides in this savant civil war – and all it took was some stupid girl to change that. God, he had issues.

By the time Trace left the room a few minutes later, Xav had managed to at least compose his breathing but knew that he was probably pale and still looked a mess. "What's wrong with you?" Trace nudged Xav with his elbow, looking at his younger brother with a concerned expression. "What was all that about?"

"Nothing," Xav lied, shaking his head and forcing a smile onto his face. "I just- I just needed some air."

"And a hospital corridor has fresh air?"

Xav shrugged, intent on not revealing to any of his family the truth about Ireland Hawk. "What did he have to say in there then?" He didn't want to ask, but he had to. He wanted to know what Ireland had dragged herself into this time, to know if she was still in Wrickenridge or if they'd moved on.

"Well he confirmed what we've been wondering down at the station," Trace answered. "The Hawks and their group are still in town or somewhere near, God knows where their hideout is. There was a drug gang that Oliver Hawk didn't exactly like and he asked Carl for help to take them down. Carl said that Hawk betrayed him though, left him to defend himself when things went wrong... I don't know whether to believe him or not, I know all about his shady past. But he seemed pretty determined to get me to believe him that the daughter tried to kill him, I don't think he was lying about that."

"But I met Ireland when I was kidnapped," Xav insisted, sounding almost desperate, "and she's pretty much the kind of person that, when attempting to kill somebody, they'd actually do it and not make a mistake to let them live. It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe she was having a rough day," Trace shrugged, a half smile on his face. "Or maybe she always planned to only try and kill him. Who the hell can know for sure what that psycho thinks?"

"Aren't you worried? The Hawks have said for ages now that they're going to get revenge on us, they made sure Uri and I knew that. Our whole family helped hunt theirs down, and you and Vick were part of the group that killed two of them and put one in jail. Oliver and Ireland aren't just going to give up, Trace-"

"I know that. And yes, I'm worried. I have Georgie and Gracie both on red alert and I've given both of them matching necklaces with trackers in just in case something happens to them. We're all preparing for a fight, Xav. But we can't let our worry about a possible situation prevent us from continuing on with our lives. That would just be stupid, don't you think?"

"I guess." Xav sighed, understanding his brother's logic but still not liking it. He knew what Ireland and her father and their whole group were capable of; he would have much preferred to hear that his family were staying locked indoors where they would have definitely been safe, what with Yves' protection invention that surrounded all the houses the family were spread out in.

"Listen, Georgie and I are having a dinner party tonight, we're both having a few friends from work over. Will's gonna be there, you should come by too," Trace invited him sincerely. Xav knew that part of the reason Trace was inviting him over was because he wanted to keep an eye on him and was concerned at how different he'd been recently, but the thought of actually going to an inconsequential dinner party sounded like hell to him. He'd rather jump of a bridge right now instead of talking to random people about their random lives and pretending that he gave a fuck about what they had to say.

Instead of saying that however, he shook his head and smiled. "Can't. Sorry. I already have plans- I'm going out to a club with a few friends."

It wasn't exactly a lie. He _did_ have plans, they just weren't going out partying with friends. No, Xav's plans for the night included ordering a takeaway and sitting in front of the TV, losing himself in fake lives instead of thinking about his own. Maybe he'd even get himself drunk enough that he'd pass out for the rest of the night... Yep, that sounded like a fantastic idea to him.

* * *

Ireland was in the hotel's dining room, sat at a table with Robbie and Richard. The tables around them were full too, everybody enjoying the evening meal that Cook had made. Ireland, Robbie and Richard were in a deep conversation about the pros and cons of having a best friend. Ireland was pretty much against the idea, stating that if you were that close to somebody it was easier for them to betray you and leave you. She'd take acquaintances and sort-of-friends like these two over a best friend any day.

When the large oak door to the room was kicked open, banging loudly against the wall, the room suddenly fell silent with all eyes now on the man stood in the doorway. Oliver looked a little bedraggled, a few cuts and bruises visible on his naturally pale skin. And he looked very, very angry. His narrowed eyes scanned the room and when they finally settled on Ireland, he stormed across the room.

Ireland gulped, sitting up straight as nerves ran through her body. What had she done wrong? It must have been something very bad if he looked that angry and was making a scene in front of everyone else. He stopped in front of her, breathing heavily as he glared down at her. "Stand up," he spoke quietly through clenched teeth. She stood up. "What, dear daughter, did I ask you to do with Carl Reynolds?"

"Kill him," said Ireland, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Kill him. Exactly." One hand grabbed her long hair, pulling it until she gasped in pain and her back was bent. He kept a tugging pressure as he shouted, "I told you to kill him, Ireland! So please, do tell me why I have just been told that he is in hospital, alive and speaking to the bloody police!" He pushed her away from him, letting go of her hair as she lurched down to the ground. "Get back up and tell me why he is still alive!"

Ireland scrambled to her feet desperately, forcing herself not to cry. She'd learned the hard way when she was a little girl that Oliver hated crying and that it wouldn't get her anywhere. Crying was not allowed; she hadn't cried since she was seven years old and she wasn't going to start again now. "Dad, I don't know!" She replied, begging him to understand. "He looked dead when I left him. I cut his throat, there was blood everywhere-"

"You _what?_" If it was even possible, she had just made him even more angrier. "Ireland, there is a reason we use the serum! It doesn't leave a mess and it never fails! Why the hell would you not kill him using the serum?! I made sure to give you two syringes full of it! What is wrong with you girl?! I did not raise you to make stupid mistakes."

"I don't know why I didn't use the serum. I can't remember," she blurted out to him. "Daddy, please. I'm sorry."

He was silent for a moment. The tension in the air was obvious, everyone waiting with baited breath to see how Oliver would react – they all knew that he never went easy on anyone that didn't follow his orders. Finally, he quietly said, "you know I hate doing this to my own daughter. But you need to learn that you can't make mistakes and get away with it without being punished. You're going to the confinement room."

When Oliver tightly grabbed hold of Ireland's arm – there was no doubt in her mind that he would be leaving bruises – she struggled to get away with him. "Please, no! Dad, don't make me go in there again. Please."

She hadn't expected him to change his mind and he didn't.

And that's how Ireland found herself in the confinement room. The room was on the third floor and it was a very effective method of punishment that Oliver occasionally used, even on his daughter. The person would be tied down to a thin, bony bed in the middle of the dark room with no windows and no heating, leaving it freezing and with a lingering smell of sweat and fear. The person would be blindfolded and have earplugs in so they couldn't see or hear anything around them.

It didn't sound that bad when somebody tried to explain it, but if you were laid there like that – like Ireland was now – it would be one of the scariest things you'd experience in your life. Anything could be going on around you and you wouldn't even know. You were completely cut off from the world, left with nothing but your own thoughts.

The person didn't get any food or water, nor were they permitted toilet breaks, and they were left in here until Oliver decided they'd had enough. The longest Ireland had spent in the confinement room was a full week, although she had been given a little bit of water every day to keep her going. She hated being here and Oliver knew that.

She didn't know how much time had passed. It felt like it had been a few hours but it could easily have been just mere minutes, how was she supposed to know?

It was enough to make a person go crazy, which it actually had a few times.

Ireland could only hope and pray that her father would take pity on her and not leave her in here too much longer.

* * *

**A hint about the next chapter: **Xav and Ireland have contact for the first time in over a month.


End file.
